MORE: Cannon observes that Jack SMITH's team had asked her for a chance to brief her on remedies other than dismissal if she was "seriously entertaining" invalidating his appointment.
FWIW: I was in Judge Chutkan's courtroom for a routine Jan. 6 proceeding minutes after the Florida decision came down. She didn't make any allusions to it. Chutkan is still awaiting return of the Supreme Court immunity decision before she can resume her own Trump case.
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🧵CUTTING ROOM FLOOR from the return of prominent J6 defendants to the Capitol, shortly before Enrique Tarrio’s arrest on a simple assault charge.
It started at the base of the west front
The group included: Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, who had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy
There were Joe Biggs and Ethan Nordean, who led 100s of Proud Boys to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and were imprisoned for 17-18 years until Trump committed their sentences
BREAKING: USCP is arresting Enrique Tarrio for swiping his hand at a counterprotester who got in his face.
Tarrio had just left a press conference at the Capitol with dozens of pardoned Jan. 6 defendants announcing plans to sue DOJ. He was exchanging info with a photographer when the incident occurred.
Here’s the group just before the press conference, which drew a small number of (loud) counterprotesters
JUST IN: Another medical horror story in a court affidavit from a USAID employee stationed overseas. Says his pregnant wife was not medevac-ed for emergency health care because of directives from Washington. Took intervention of a U.S. senator to reverse — but was too late.
The employee, identified only as Terry Doe, says he’s been in touch with 25 other pregnant foreign service officers who are fearful their care will be cut off if the agency closes down completely on March 8.
WOW: Judge Reyes just absolutely tore into the lawyers for the fired IGs, saying they waited 21 days to file suit and then demanded emergency same-day relief.
She forced them to withdraw their TRO motion and threatened them with sanctions.
Reyes was livid that the lawyers for the IGs compared their case to the recently decided case of fired ethics watchdog Hampton Dellinger. She pointed out why those cases are nothing alike and wondered why the IGs would even try to compare them.
MORE: When Reyes asked DOJ if they wanted to weigh in the attorney, having just watched the obliteration of his adversary, meekly replied, "Um, ah, nothing from the government." Smart move.
HAPPENING NOW: Judge Chutkan is holding a hearing on state AGs' effort to stop Elon Musk and DOGE's entire government operation.
Lawyer for NM says Musk is a "literal wrecking ball"
Chutkan is skeptical of urgency of an immediate restraining order.
Chutkan is not buying the demand for extraordinary emergency relief. The states might have a case, she says, but not necessarily for an immediate restraiing order.
The states say Musk likes to work the weekend so he might cause harm this weeknd. Chutkan says that's not enough.
Chutkan's main issue is the breadth of what states are asking for. She says she understands states concerns given the "unpredctability" and pace of DOGE's actions. But a TRO against Musk and everything he does seems too broad, she says.
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING (again): The Justice Department asked a court to urgently “dissolve” or “modify/clarify” the sweeping order that blocks Musk allies — and political leadership in Treasury from accessing the government’s massive payment system. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…x.com/kyledcheney/st…
The order describes Judge Engelmayer’s original block as an “impermissible” incursion on the Executive Branch and an “anti-constitutional” move that damages Treasury leadership’s ability to do its job.
NOTABLE: The Trump admin is already negotiating with the states who filed the lawsuit to narrow the order. And the judge currently presiding over the case has ordered this to move lightning fast.